Elide to-python conversion of setter return values (#4621)

* Reproducer for property setter with return type that is not wrapped.

* Use `py::class_<OptionsBase>()` to work around the return value conversion issue.

* WIP drop_return_value

* Remove struct drop_return_value

* Introduce `return_value_policy::return_none` for use by setters.

* Add `is_setter` to attr.h and use from `.def_property()`

* Merge the new test into test_methods_and_attributes

* Remove return_none return_value_policy again.

* Fix oversight (NOLINTNEXTLINE placement).

* Simplification (for the better) found while searching for a way to resolve GCC build failures.

Example of failure resolved by this change:

g++ (Ubuntu 9.4.0-1ubuntu1~20.04.1) 9.4.0

```
cd /build/tests && /usr/bin/c++ -DPYBIND11_TEST_EIGEN -Dpybind11_tests_EXPORTS -I/mounted_pybind11/include -isystem /usr/include/python3.8 -isystem /build/_deps/eigen-src -g -std=c++17 -fPIC -fvisibility=hidden -Wall -Wextra -Wconversion -Wcast-qual -Wdeprecated -Wundef -Wnon-virtual-dtor -MD -MT tests/CMakeFiles/pybind11_tests.dir/test_buffers.cpp.o -MF CMakeFiles/pybind11_tests.dir/test_buffers.cpp.o.d -o CMakeFiles/pybind11_tests.dir/test_buffers.cpp.o -c /mounted_pybind11/tests/test_buffers.cpp
In file included from /mounted_pybind11/include/pybind11/stl.h:12,
                 from /mounted_pybind11/tests/test_buffers.cpp:10:
/mounted_pybind11/include/pybind11/pybind11.h: In instantiation of ‘pybind11::class_<type_, options>& pybind11::class_<type_, options>::def_property(const char*, const Getter&, const Setter&, const Extra& ...) [with Getter = pybind11::cpp_function; Setter = std::nullptr_t; Extra = {pybind11::return_value_policy}; type_ = pybind11::buffer_info; options = {}]’:
/mounted_pybind11/include/pybind11/pybind11.h:1716:58:   required from ‘pybind11::class_<type_, options>& pybind11::class_<type_, options>::def_property_readonly(const char*, const pybind11::cpp_function&, const Extra& ...) [with Extra = {pybind11::return_value_policy}; type_ = pybind11::buffer_info; options = {}]’
/mounted_pybind11/include/pybind11/pybind11.h:1684:9:   required from ‘pybind11::class_<type_, options>& pybind11::class_<type_, options>::def_readonly(const char*, const D C::*, const Extra& ...) [with C = pybind11::buffer_info; D = long int; Extra = {}; type_ = pybind11::buffer_info; options = {}]’
/mounted_pybind11/tests/test_buffers.cpp:209:61:   required from here
/mounted_pybind11/include/pybind11/pybind11.h:1740:25: error: call of overloaded ‘cpp_function(std::nullptr_t&, pybind11::is_setter)’ is ambiguous
 1740 |             name, fget, cpp_function(method_adaptor<type>(fset), is_setter()), extra...);
      |                         ^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
/mounted_pybind11/include/pybind11/pybind11.h:101:5: note: candidate: ‘pybind11::cpp_function::cpp_function(Func&&, const Extra& ...) [with Func = std::nullptr_t&; Extra = {pybind11::is_setter}; <template-parameter-1-3> = void]’
  101 |     cpp_function(Func &&f, const Extra &...extra) {
      |     ^~~~~~~~~~~~
In file included from /mounted_pybind11/include/pybind11/stl.h:12,
                 from /mounted_pybind11/tests/test_buffers.cpp:10:
/mounted_pybind11/include/pybind11/pybind11.h:87:5: note: candidate: ‘pybind11::cpp_function::cpp_function(std::nullptr_t, const Extra& ...) [with Extra = {pybind11::is_setter}; std::nullptr_t = std::nullptr_t]’
   87 |     cpp_function(std::nullptr_t, const Extra &...) {}
      |     ^~~~~~~~~~~~
```

* Bug fix: obvious in hindsight. I thought the original version was incrementing the reference count for None, but no.

Discovered via many failing tests in the wild (10s of thousands).

It is very tricky to construct a meaningful unit test for this bug specifically. It's unlikely to come back, because 10s of thousands of tests will fail again.

include/pybind11/attr.h

@@ -26,6 +26,9 @@ struct is_method {
     explicit is_method(const handle &c) : class_(c) {}
 };
 
+/// Annotation for setters
+struct is_setter {};
+
 /// Annotation for operators
 struct is_operator {};
 
@@ -188,8 +191,8 @@ struct argument_record {
 struct function_record {
     function_record()
         : is_constructor(false), is_new_style_constructor(false), is_stateless(false),
-          is_operator(false), is_method(false), has_args(false), has_kwargs(false),
-          prepend(false) {}
+          is_operator(false), is_method(false), is_setter(false), has_args(false),
+          has_kwargs(false), prepend(false) {}
 
     /// Function name
     char *name = nullptr; /* why no C++ strings? They generate heavier code.. */
@@ -230,6 +233,9 @@ struct function_record {
     /// True if this is a method
     bool is_method : 1;
 
+    /// True if this is a setter
+    bool is_setter : 1;
+
     /// True if the function has a '*args' argument
     bool has_args : 1;
 
@@ -426,6 +432,12 @@ struct process_attribute<is_method> : process_attribute_default<is_method> {
     }
 };
 
+/// Process an attribute which indicates that this function is a setter
+template <>
+struct process_attribute<is_setter> : process_attribute_default<is_setter> {
+    static void init(const is_setter &, function_record *r) { r->is_setter = true; }
+};
+
 /// Process an attribute which indicates the parent scope of a method
 template <>
 struct process_attribute<scope> : process_attribute_default<scope> {

include/pybind11/pybind11.h

@@ -84,6 +84,7 @@ public:
     cpp_function() = default;
     // NOLINTNEXTLINE(google-explicit-constructor)
     cpp_function(std::nullptr_t) {}
+    cpp_function(std::nullptr_t, const is_setter &) {}
 
     /// Construct a cpp_function from a vanilla function pointer
     template <typename Return, typename... Args, typename... Extra>
@@ -244,10 +245,16 @@ protected:
             using Guard = extract_guard_t<Extra...>;
 
             /* Perform the function call */
-            handle result
-                = cast_out::cast(std::move(args_converter).template call<Return, Guard>(cap->f),
+            handle result;
+            if (call.func.is_setter) {
+                (void) std::move(args_converter).template call<Return, Guard>(cap->f);
+                result = none().release();
+            } else {
+                result = cast_out::cast(
+                    std::move(args_converter).template call<Return, Guard>(cap->f),
                     policy,
                     call.parent);
+            }
 
             /* Invoke call policy post-call hook */
             process_attributes<Extra...>::postcall(call, result);
@@ -1729,7 +1736,8 @@ public:
     template <typename Getter, typename Setter, typename... Extra>
     class_ &
     def_property(const char *name, const Getter &fget, const Setter &fset, const Extra &...extra) {
-        return def_property(name, fget, cpp_function(method_adaptor<type>(fset)), extra...);
+        return def_property(
+            name, fget, cpp_function(method_adaptor<type>(fset), is_setter()), extra...);
     }
     template <typename Getter, typename... Extra>
     class_ &def_property(const char *name,

tests/test_methods_and_attributes.cpp

@@ -177,6 +177,38 @@ struct RValueRefParam {
     std::size_t func4(std::string &&s) const & { return s.size(); }
 };
 
+namespace pybind11_tests {
+namespace exercise_is_setter {
+
+struct FieldBase {
+    int int_value() const { return int_value_; }
+
+    FieldBase &SetIntValue(int int_value) {
+        int_value_ = int_value;
+        return *this;
+    }
+
+private:
+    int int_value_ = -99;
+};
+
+struct Field : FieldBase {};
+
+void add_bindings(py::module &m) {
+    py::module sm = m.def_submodule("exercise_is_setter");
+    // NOTE: FieldBase is not wrapped, therefore ...
+    py::class_<Field>(sm, "Field")
+        .def(py::init<>())
+        .def_property(
+            "int_value",
+            &Field::int_value,
+            &Field::SetIntValue // ... the `FieldBase &` return value here cannot be converted.
+        );
+}
+
+} // namespace exercise_is_setter
+} // namespace pybind11_tests
+
 TEST_SUBMODULE(methods_and_attributes, m) {
     // test_methods_and_attributes
     py::class_<ExampleMandA> emna(m, "ExampleMandA");
@@ -456,4 +488,6 @@ TEST_SUBMODULE(methods_and_attributes, m) {
         .def("func2", &RValueRefParam::func2)
         .def("func3", &RValueRefParam::func3)
         .def("func4", &RValueRefParam::func4);
+
+    pybind11_tests::exercise_is_setter::add_bindings(m);
 }

tests/test_methods_and_attributes.py

@@ -522,3 +522,12 @@ def test_rvalue_ref_param():
     assert r.func2("1234") == 4
     assert r.func3("12345") == 5
     assert r.func4("123456") == 6
+
+
+def test_is_setter():
+    fld = m.exercise_is_setter.Field()
+    assert fld.int_value == -99
+    setter_return = fld.int_value = 100
+    assert isinstance(setter_return, int)
+    assert setter_return == 100
+    assert fld.int_value == 100